ABSTRACT
You walk into a room where a meeting is in progress. A few of the participants glance at you as you enter; a few are too intent on the business at hand to notice you; most look bored and disinterested; several are reading. A voice is droning on over a loudspeaker. You find a seat and take in your surroundings. If you’re in a large, old city, the room may seem a bit like a church, with people sitting in wooden pews facing the front of the room, where some more official-looking people in big chairs sit at desks, perhaps facing one another rather than their audience, which they may outnumber. If you’re in a newer city, perhaps in the suburbs or the Sunbelt, the room will be modern and may seem more like a theater, with rows and rows of comfortable seats for the audience and a small group of official types at desks and in padded chairs that swivel, but facing the audience rather than one another.
